Need to Know
by sg4ever
Summary: this is for May fic challenge on GW, themed "Marriage". Nikola has a lot of questions in his mind but will he get the courage to ask them?
1. Chapter 1

She paced through the Sanctuary heading to the lab, Nikola's lab. She knew he didn't like being interrupted while working but she had no choice. This could not wait.

Entering the room, she spotted Nikola practicing his new magnetic abilities on some bullets. By moving his hand, he was moving the bullets through air, surrounding the room. When Nikola met Helen's gaze the bullets stopped right in front of her and fell inactive on the ground.

"Helen, what a surprise", Nikola said while his gaze was studying Helen's body. "Are you here to help me with some experiments? I have plenty of those in my mind and I wonder…"

"I am here because I need you", Helen said briefly.

"What can I do to content my Queen?" said Nikola with a smirk on his face and making a bow. "After all, my work can wait."

"I'm sorry, I know you don't like to be interrupted while you work but as I said I need you. Kate and Will are in London to bring me some documents and researches about an abnormal kept in that Sanctuary, Henry is busy to install some new defense system and this thing can not wait."

"Will you let me know what's this all about or you want me to say yes and go out with you like on a blind date, without knowing anything?", Nikola said and a sparkle lightened his eyes for a moment.

"There's no time for games we have to go, I'll explain to you on the way. We have to reach Jersey fast." Helen said while leaving the room with Nikola following behind.

"Any idea how are we going to do this?" Nikola asked trying to keep pace with Helen.

"Well the fastest way would be by plane but as you can't control your magnetic abilities entirely we don't want to risk an interference with the board computer."

"So what do you have in mind?"

"A car" Helen answered exactly when reaching the garage door. "It should take us there in six hours". Saying that, she was heading to the corner of the garage where there was a covered car.

"A car?" said Nikola, his face showing distrust. "Helen, I've been hit by a car, I fell over a car, I don't really like cars".

"You'll like this one" Helen said without being able to suppress a giggle. She uncovered the car and there it was a red sport car with his name on it "Tesla Roadster".

"This is…outrageous, unbelievable, impossible" Nikola said while he was trying to figure out some more names to express his discontent. "This is…"

"This is the fastest car we have so would you please step in, we're in a hurry if you haven't noticed yet" Helen said while getting into the driver's chair. "Plus, you should be happy, they named a car after you". There was a trace of irony in her voice.

He entered into the car and Helen pressed the speeding pedal. She caught a glimpse of Nikola having an enormous grin on his face so she turned to him.

"Why are you smiling about? I though you we're pissed"

"I am but it's interesting"

Raising her eyebrow Helen said "What's so interesting? A car named after you?"

"No" he said, pausing to make Helen tense while waiting for his response. "_You_ having a car named after me".

And saying that he made himself comfortable in the chair for there were six hours he would spend there.

"Now, care to say why are we rushing?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two is up. It's a bit short but contains some explanations :P Thanks everyone for the reviews in the past. Hope you'll enjoy it.**

** sg4ever :)**

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"Are you telling me that he can make me bark like a dog?", Nikola asked.

"_She_. It's a she, or at least that's what my contact told me and no, she can't make you bark like a dog unless you really want to" Helen pointed out.

"Helen, enlighten me please" Nikola said eager to know more about the abnormal they were after.

"Well basically she has the ability to see our deepest desire at one point and she can make suggestions to make us act to fulfill that desire."

"And the reason why she's being hunted is because…?"

"Because she uses some sort of mind control in her process of suggestion. Do you realize how could this affect people if those who hunt her manage to control the process and the information that are being sent to one's brain?"

"I got it, I got. We can't let the bad boys to catch her. But it seems to me like a job you could have handled very well alone. Why did you bring me with you, except the fact that I am irresistible and you like to stare at me?" Nikola asked with that usual smirk of arrogance on his face.

"The _only_ reason I brought you with me it's because if I get somehow affected by the abnormal's power you have to take care of things. And that goes for you too."

"Couldn't she just control us both?"

"It's not control I've told you, in the worst case she can affect our ability to think and act objectively but her powers only work on a single purpose at a time."

"In that way one of us will always be sober, got it" Nikola completed.

"You've got any other questions?"

_Tons of them, _his mind replied. But he could not ask her just like that. He needed the right time and place. He needed the guts to let the words from his mind materialize.

"No…" he finally answered. "I guess I know everything I need to know."

His mind fell in meditation, his eyes were locked on the road. He didn't know everything he wanted to know. A strange curiosity and _something else_ was bothering him, pushing him to the limit of asking Helen. But his self control was always winning this battle. He had been practicing self control ever since he was a child. He shook his head to shake the memories from the past that threatened to invade his mind. This was too painful to bear.

He slowly turned his head to Helen, contemplating her. Feeling his gaze locked on her, Helen turned and met Nikola's eyes. For a moment she managed to see over the barrier he has been building in the last century. For a moment his eyes showed a torment of feelings. But after that moment was gone, the arrogance smirk was back on his face.

"What?" she asked still trying to understand the complexity of his previous look.

"Is it going to take much longer to get there?" Nikola asked. "Not that I have a problem with being with you in a car, at night, trying to warm up ourselves…" he completed with a grin growing on his face.

"We'll be there in three minutes. Get ready." She replied trying not to think at Nikola's comment about _warming up_.


	3. Chapter 3

**It took me a while but chapter three is up. There's not too much Helen/Nikola interaction because this chapter is based more on the action of the fic but there will be more teslen in following chapter(s) :D**

**as always thanks for taking time and reading my work and thanks for all the support :)**

**and many thanks to _SocraticMethod for being so kind and helping me with my bad English :)**

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They entered the room and stopped in the doorway. The whole room was a mess; it looked like a hurricane had passed through it.

"Bloody hell!" Helen shouted. "Someone got here before we did."

Helen was angry. She had failed. She has always put her whole soul into her job and failing always made her feel that she was not making any difference in the world. But that was not true. How many times had she saved lives? Her work was her life. Or at least it had been ever since…

She shook her head to shake the memories from her painful past. The wound was still there, never entirely healed.

"Helen? Helen?" a voice was calling her name. In a second she found herself in the scattered room again.

"Yes?" she answered quickly.

"We should check to see if there's anybody left around here" Nikola said.

"Yes." She replied. "You check the kitchen, I'll check the bedroom."

She headed to the bedroom still reflecting on her failure. She found the same mess in the bedroom as in the whole apartment and sighed at the sight in front of her.

The girl's eyes blackened. She was struggling to scan the woman's mind, to find out what she wants. When she finally managed to break the barrier that was stopping her she knew she could trust this woman. _"Her strongest desire, in the present, is to help. She is blaming herself for failing."_ The girl thought. Suddenly a man entered the bedroom. Even though she couldn't see him as she was behind the wall, in a secret compartment, she could sense him. She moved her attention from the woman to the man, trying to guess his intentions. But it was even harder to reach his mind than it was to reach the woman's mind. His barrier was much stronger. It took all her concentration and focus to be able to see his desire. _"So many mixed feelings, so much self-control" _the girl thought again _"but I can see that his stronger desire right now is to protect the woman, __even if it would cost him his life. I guess I can trust him too. After all I don't have any other options."_

Nikola entered the bedroom short time after Helen.

"We have to go. Now! We are not alone." He said to Helen and moved his gaze through the room.

All of a sudden, a hidden door in the wall opened and a girl came out. The redhead in front of their eyes couldn't have been older that nineteen but her face expressed a lot of wisdom. Helen knew then that this was the abnormal she was trying to find.

"Don't be afraid. We're here to help you." Helen said.

"I am not afraid." The girl replied in a low soft voice. "But you should know that there are other people searching for me and when they find me they won't be too forgiving with anyone that helped me."

"They won't find you. You can come with us. There's a place where you can live until we sort things out." Helen said, already thinking of the room the girl would occupy at the Sanctuary.

Nikola, who hadn't said a word until then, pointed:

"Listen, we'd all love to stay and chat but you have to make up your mind because we don't have time to waste."

He had just finished that sentence when they all heard a knock in the door.

"Too late." Helen sighed.

"This way." The redhead girl said and moved forward to the hidden chamber from where she emerged a few moments ago.

Helen and Nikola looked at each other and realized that this was their only hope so they followed the girl. In a few seconds they were all inside and the girl pressed a button on the wall to make the door close.

It was dark but none of them even dared to breathe. The knocks on the front door stopped for a while but then they heard that very door fall down on the ground. Some men voices were heard closer and closer until they realized somebody was in the bedroom, where they had been a few seconds earlier. After ten minutes, the men walked away and after another ten minutes, there were no voices at all.

Helen whispered.

"I think they're gone. At least for now. It's a good thing I parked the car a few blocks away. They must not be aware of our presence."

"We can go out now." The girl said in the same soft voice.

She pressed the button from the wall again, the door opened and they all passed into the bedroom.

"Now what?" Nikola asked feeling a little uncomfortable having this abnormal in the same room with him.

"It will soon be dark. We'll wait until then and try to sneak out outside. Once we've reached the car we can go home." Helen replied.

"I guess my dream came true after all" Nikola said letting a grin to grow on his face. "Me, you, dark, need for warmth."

By the time he ended the sentence, the grin on his face turned into a flirty look.

"Let's not forget why we are here" Helen pointed. "For _her_."

Both of their gazes locked on the teenage redhead girl standing in front of them and staring at them as if trying to understand _something_.

"I'm Helen by the way, and this is Nikola." Helen started to introduce herself realizing that they all got caught up in the middle of the action and she didn't even know what the girl's name was.

"What's your name?"


	4. Chapter 4

**With the help of my friend _SocraticMethod (to whom I am very grateful :D) I managed to upload chapter four. This chapter is dedicated to my gutter fellow on GW cuz it's her b-day this month :D The story will have one more chapter and I'll try to finish it as soon as I can. Thanks for being so kind and reading/reviewing my stories. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too.**

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**My dear Keaira,**

**I know it's not your b-day _yet_, but I wanna be the first to wish you HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Thanks for every time you made me laugh, for being there for me from day one we've met and for encouraging me to have more trust in my own work :D I'm not very good with words but I hope you'll enjoy my little surprise. This chapter is for YOU.**

**your gutter fellow,**

**sg4ever :)**

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"Keaira. My name is Keaira."

"Nice to meet you Keaira." Helen said. "How long before we came have you been hiding like this?"

"They have been searching for me for the last three days." Keaira replied.

"You're safe for now. We have to spend the night here but tomorrow we will take you to a safer place. Whoever was searching for you, they might come back so we'll have to watch all night." Helen said.

"I'll take the first watch." Nikola replied. "You two get some sleep."

So there he was, in the middle of the night contemplating the now sleeping Helen. The moonlight coming from the window made her black curls even darker and lightened her face. She was an angel. The angel that made his heart flinch with joy with every breath that she took. He could have spent forever just watching her sleep.

She woke up and saw his silhouette in the moonlight. He was looking through the window, pensive. Helen got up and walked to him. She gently put her hand on his shoulder. Nikola flinched.

"You should get some rest too. I'll take it from here." Helen said still holding her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine." He said.

"You don't have to be stubborn, you know. You _need_ rest now." She pleaded to convince him.

How painful it was for Nikola to be reminded that he was mortal now. He would never get entirely over this. He hated to be threatened by time and now time seemed to rule over him.

A shadow of pain appeared on his face for a moment. Without saying another word, he left Helen at the window and stepped away to go to sleep. In the middle of the room he stopped and turned to Helen. The need to know was quickly growing inside him. He focused his entire self control to stop the words from coming out of his mouth but failed.

"Why did you never get married?" he asked still trying to gain control over this irrational impulse that was giving him the guts to finally ask the question.

Helen turned her face in surprise and took a moment to respond. She was still recovering after the shock of this question coming from Nikola. Why hadn't she gotten married? Because her heart has been broken to pieces. Because she has learned never to trust people entirely. Because she has forbidden herself the happiness of loving somebody and being loved in return. Because she had already been through enough pain for nine lifetimes.

"I guess for the same reason as you." She answered and lowered her gaze.

"Because the one you loved got married to a killer?" Nikola replied.

"_Why did I say that?"_ He thought. _"What's happening to my mind?"_

But it was already too late because the words had been spoken. Within him there was a struggle between the desire to gain control over his actions again and the desire to know Helen's response to his question.

This was not the Nikola she knew. His question sent frozen shivers through Helen's spine but at the same time, the thought that what he said might be true, the thought of him loving her, started to grow in her mind and made her heart go crazy. The curiosity to see where this discussion was leading made her answer Nikola's question even though this caused her a lot of pain.

"He _proposed_ and I thought he was the one. But after that _unsuccessful_ engagement, I renounced to think about marriage anymore. It's too painful. "

It was Nikola's turn to lower his gaze. He clenched his fists with anger. If Druitt was there, he would have ripped him apart. The night he found out about what Druitt did to Helen he was so close to actually doing it. If Watson hadn't stopped him in time, Druitt would have been dead now, unable to cause any more pain to Helen.

Helen was watching his reaction trying to see behind the angry look on his face. There was no point dwelling in the past. But now, she needed to know.

"Nikola." She said with her voice trembling. "Is it true?"

Nikola locked his gaze on Helen's eyes.

"What you said earlier." Helen finished her question not being able to reproduce Nikola's words. She needed no false hopes. Her heart was too fragile now.

He approached her slowly, not interrupting eye contact, even for a second. When they were only inches apart he took her right hand and kissed it, his lips lingering on her soft white skin. His actions didn't belong to him. There was a part of him that would never allow him to be so exposed, so vulnerable, but that part was dead that night. As if all his barriers built over a century had fallen down to release his feelings. He felt like he had nothing to lose anymore…


	5. Chapter 5

**This is my final chapter. Thanks everyone for reading/reveiwing :) I hope you will enjoy it!**

**aaaaaand HAPPY BIRTHDAY again Keaira!**

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"I've always loved you Helen. I meant it in Rome. I have spent many days imagining what my life would have been like if I'd had the courage to ask you to marry me when we were at Oxford... what _our_ life would have been like…"

The words were coming out by themselves. He was not struggling to stop them anymore.

Nikola sighed heavily.

"After you got engaged, the word _marriage_ lost its meaning for me."

"He's been in love with me for over a century and I never realized it."

No. That wasn't quite true… she had realized it, she just never allowed herself to hope. But that night there was something that made her see everything clearly. She had a strong desire to just kiss him, to feel the touch of his lips on hers. All her rational thought had abandoned her – it was as though her actions were controlled not by her brain but by her heart.

Still gazing Helen, Nikola's desire to show his love to her was growing in intensity. He felt like he had entirely lost control of his actions and for the first time in many years he was feeling free. Free of the rational thought that usually weighed him down. He raised his hand and touched Helen's cheek. His fingers were tracing the lines of her lips and stopped at the corner of her mouth. Leaning forward, Nikola slowly touched Helen's lips with his. The touch made Helen moan. He then pulled himself away only to find his himself drawn towards Helen's soft lips once more. It felt like the temperature in their bodies had suddenly spiked. Their hot lips eager to explore one another. Unable to hold on the pressure, Helen hungrily pulled Nikola closer with one hand on his back, the other hand ruffling through his hair. The kiss was rapidly growing in intensity as a century's worth of tension came to a head. Their tongues met and frozen shivers ran up and down Helen's spine. Helen wanted more. She clutched at Nikola as the two continued to kiss with reckless abandon.

After a few moments Helen pulled herself back, needing to breathe. Nikola's face seemed to be radiating. She answered Nikola's vulnerable look with a wistful smile at the corner of her mouth. Then she leaned forward laying her cheek against his, wrapping her arms around him and rubbing his back soothingly with her fingers.

Nikola could feel her heart beating in time with his own. They were both trembling.

Helen lifted her gaze only to be met by dark black eyes locked on a spot in the ceiling. She flinched but very soon she realized what was happening.

"Nikola, look." She said, motioning towards the bed. Nikola turned to see the same pair of black eyes that Helen had seen earlier.

"_A vampire?"_ Was Nikola's first thought but soon enough he understood too.

Helen walked forward heading to the bed.

"Keaira." She said and the girl suddenly reacted when she heard her name. Her eyes turned brown again and it looked like she was back to normal.

Helen turned to look at Nikola and when she turned back to the girl, her eyes were closed. She put her hand on the girl's neck to check for pulse.

"Her pulse is normal. She is…_sleeping._" Helen said surprised. "We'll talk to her in the morning. And you should try to get some sleep too."

Without protesting Nikola walked away from the window and headed to the couch.

None of them slept until all night. There were too many things to think about. What happened that night was it just because of Keaira's _intervention_?

"_This explains a lot of things._" Nikola thought. "_It was just a fight between my mind and my heart and it seems that my heart won, with a little help. There's nothing left to do other than to see where this is heading. I have nothing to lose now_."

Helen was lost in thought, as well. "_The girl's powers are remarkable. She made me lose control…. But it seemed like…she did the same thing to Nikola. I've never seen him like that. But how?" _Helen was perplexed.

That morning, they all behaved as though nothing had happened during the night. Neither of them had the courage to ask anything about the night that passed but neither of them even wanted to. Helen and Nikola were afraid they would ruin everything they'd built so far with a wrong word.

"We should see if there's anybody left searching for Keaira and if not we have to get to the car." Helen said with the serious voice he always had when on mission.

"I'll go." Nikola volunteered and left in the same moment.

Keaira was looking at Helen and she already knew the question waiting to spill from Helen's lips.

"Last night" Helen started "you used your power on me."

"Yes." Keaira replied.

"And on Nikola too." Helen completed.

"Yes." Keaira said again.

"But how?" Helen asked surprised. "From what I know you can only focus your attention on a single purpose at a time."

"It's true" Keaira replied. "But when two people want the same thing…"

"…there's only one purpose to focus on." Helen finished Keaira's sentence.

The girl smiled. Helen smiled too.

"Thank you." Helen said.

"I have only given you a point to start from. What you do from here is up to both of you." Keaira said and Helen understood now why her face was showing so much wisdom.

Nikola entered the room.

"They're gone. Let's go."

Helen looked at him and smiled to herself.

"Yes I guess we should go. There are a lot of things to do." She said in a tone that was giving her words a new meaning.

Keaira was right. It was up to them now…

**The End**


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